What Not to Find
by randomfics
Summary: When a byouma mentions that Ashitaba might be a disease demon that's eaten a human soul, Ashitaba decides its time to figure out what he truly is.
1. Chapter 1

It was perhaps a niggling worry in the corner of his mind. Maybe a little more then just a small worry, but it hadn't yet reached the point where it was an all consuming fear.

"Hey, Ashitaba- oi, Ashitaba!" The chubby kid paused in his story as he registered the vacant eyes staring off into the distance, before shoving a hand into the boys face.

With a surprised yelp, Ashitaba tipped over in his chair, and landed on the floor. Two swirling spirals of eyes stared up at the sky, before he slowly sat up, rubbing the back of his head. Surprisingly teary eyes turned an accusing glare at his friend. "What was that for Mimisaka?"

"You were totally blanking out. Honestly, you've been really absent minded lately."

A handsome, blonde haired boy leaned back in his seat, lazy eyes having an unusual spark of energy in them to agree- "Yeah, you've been really quiet lately. We were beginning to wonder if Motoyoshi had done something to you."

"Ehhh? No, no! I've just been worrying about stupid stuff-"

That caught their attention, and Mimisaka's hands slammed down onto the desk. "This isn't about Hades-sensei again, right?"

Ashitaba backed away from the looming face as he frantically shook his head. "No, it has nothing to do with sensei this time, I promise!"

The two boys, satisfied by his reply, settled back into their seats as the teacher began to call the classes' attention back to him. The class settled back to normality, and once again Ashitaba found his thoughts drifting.

It hadn't been a lie when he had said that he wasn't thinking about sensei- he was thinking about what sensei _did_.

Recently, he had come to the realization that although he couldn't sense a disease demon, when he recognized that they were there, he recognized the byouma itself. It was only a faint recognition but it was still there. So why… Why did he feel so… _odd_ when each disease demon was destroyed?

At first he could've sworn that it was a sense of 'Yes! It's gone!' that he was feeling when each byouma was erased, but then again…

"Rise. Bow."

Hurriedly he rose, bowed, and prepared to leave. Mom was expecting him home early today to watch his little sister whom was having Misao stay over for the night. Fuji waved him goodbye, and Ashitaba waved back as he took off in a slow jog- no real reason to wear himself out.

The streets melted into each other without pause, until Ashitaba's ears caught the sound of something being destroyed. A chill ran up his back, and he hurriedly pulled out his cellphone, fingers aiming straight for Hades number (Number one on speed dial)

Slowly he peeked around the corner to see a young man standing there. He was dressed in a sharp business suite, and his black hair was neatly combed back into a serious businessman hair. He looked every bit like a normal person.

Which was why it was so odd to see a crying child on the ground before him, as he laughed cruely.

Ashitaba instantly pressed himself against the wall, hurriedly dialing the police-

"Ah, ah, ah! Can't let you dial the police, now can I?"

The cellphone in one hand was plucked out of his abruptly loose grip as the hairs on the nape of his neck rose. Slowly his head turned, icicles creeping down his spine. "Wh-What? How did you-"

"I am a byouma yes- I'm what you call an influencing type- I take humans desire to know everything, and turn it against them."

The byouma looked insanely proud of itself, and Ashitaba's hands wrapped around the messenger bag strap. Slowly he began inching sideways, when the Byouma abruptly frowned. "Hey- aren't you one of us? So why you working against us?"

_Huh?_

Taking in the surprised look on the young teens face, the byouma abruptly laughed loudly. "This is too rich! You succeeded in devouring the human soul, but you don't even realize it? Bwahahaha!"

The insane laughter rang out once again.

Ashitaba abandoned his cellphone to instead take off running for school. Hades-sensei still had to be there, and he could always apologize to mom later-

"Ah, ah, ah! Don't go summoning your sensei- _or he might eat you as well_."

That brought on the chills, and he whirled to see the disease demon bouncing the cellphone up and down in one hand. The cellphone snapped shut, and the demon tossed it back. "You should think about reawakening your real, inner self there! If you do, we should team up together and terrorize a few neighborhoods."

Ashitaba fumbled and dropped the cellphone. As he scrambled to pick it up, the disease demon vanished. Slowly he rose to his feet, face white, eyes wide. Clutching the cellphone to his chest, he slowly began dialing Hades number.

His finger hovered above the call button, as he stood on the brink of a choice-

And he pressed the button.

* * *

Hades took care of the disease demon easily, with Ashitaba for once politely refusing the offer to come with- Ashitaba wanted nothing more the to go home, curl up under his sheets, and shiver.

Unfortunately, both his sister and Misao were too hyperactive for such a loser way of wimping it out.

Instead he found himself suitably distracted by video game demands, treats, and frantic, desperate chasing to keep up.

Then night time fell, with both out like a light on his sisters bed, tangled in each others limbs and sleeping peacefully. Ashitaba turned out the light, flopped into his own bed, curled up, and began to worry.

_What did the byouma mean? I'm…one of them? How- why-_

The cover was pulled over his head, and eyes squeezed tightly shut.

When birds outside of his window began twittering at six o'clock, Ashitaba started, surprised and still worrying. Slowly he crawled out of bed, changed, and walked down the stairs, to where his mother stood cooking breakfast. He picked at his food, and eventually asked, "Hey mom, when I was little, did I ever do anything… weird?"

Warm black eyes blinked at him, and his mother thoughtfully placed a hand to her cheek, mouth pulling into a tiny frown. "Well, yes actually. When you were in elementary school you go hit by a bus. It was such a surprise that you survived."

_A…bus? So what am I? A byouma that was called into existence because I wanted to live?_

The black-haired teen smiled a false bright smile at his mother as he said, "Thanks mom! I just remembered, I gotta run-"

Ashitaba took off in a dead run, heading for outside. He needed to think. And he knew just the person to help him think.

* * *

Hanamaki hadn't really expected anyone to _ever_ come to her house. None of her plans drawn in her notebook had any such contingencies, but she could maybe faintly have an plan in case someone came over.

She definitely wasn't expecting to find Ashitaba in her doorway, panting and wheezing for breath. Nor was she expecting for him to blurt out, "I need your help!"

"Eh? A-Ashitaba-kun? What are you doing here? Oh no! I don't have anything planned out for this! Erm- W-W-Wait a minute- help?"

Ashitaba nodded, "I need your help to sort out the disease demons that have been popping up recently. I'd ask Motoyoshi but he's kinda scary…" A dark aura hung over him for a moment, before he shook his head quickly, dispelling the thoughts. "Please!"

"E-Eh? B-But I haven't seen that many-"

"I still need your help! You're really good at organizing stuff right!"

The stuttering girl really only had one choice open to her; being swept up in assistance.

"S-So, we've managed to divide all the byouma you've ever seen into three types- and how they've affected each of those people, and Hades-sensei byouma as well. Erm- W-Well, what next?"

"Hanamaki-san- what do you think happens to those people when they've been completely taken over by a byouma?"

"E-Eh? Erm…" Hanamaki felll silently, remembering the time she'd been flipped, and the various other byouma's goals. "I suppose, they want to eat a humans soul, right? They target humans who have weak hearts, and help those people out- but in exchange they feed off emotions or something like that."

The two students paused, and Ashitaba whipped out his cellphone. "I'm going to call Niburu-san and ask."

Hanamaki looked at him in curiosity, as Ashitaba pulled out the business card he had received so long ago to begin dialing a number. The phone on the other end began to ring, and in the most daring action the shy girl had ever done yet, she reached over and switched his phone over to external speakers.

The phone was picked up. "Salon Yggdrasill, Niburu speaking, how may I help you?"

"Niburu-san? This is Ashitaba- I had a question to ask you. If a disease demon takes over a human long enough, what happens?"

There was a long silence on the other end, before the big-busted woman sighed. He could imagine her leaning against a wall, and using one hand to push back her long hair. Her voice came back slowly. "Generally then the disease demon devours the human soul."

Hanamaki beamed as she was proven correct. "How long does it take for the disease demon to eat the soul?"

"It depends on the byouma. Generally Transfiguring take the shortest, and the influencing take the longest. It also depends on a persons willpower. If they're actively fighting a disease demon then it takes longer then if they embrace one."

"Thanks Niburu-san!"

Ashitaba shut off the phone, and looked directly at Hanamaki. It wasn't the most earth-shattering revelation, but he still felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine at the thought. If he was a byouma, then what about the human he'd taken over?

"Is something wrong Ashitaba?" The girls soft voice broke him out of his worrisome thoughts.

"Eh, no, I'm just- I recently heard something that worried me."

The girl stared at him, before smiling, "It'll be alright Ashitaba, after all, we have Hades-sensei to fix everything, right?"

And that was precisely what was beginning to worry him.


	2. Chapter 2

Amazingly enough, it was Fuji whom first noted how distracted Ashitaba was.

It probably had to something to do with when Ashitaba began to _eat his lunch_ instead of his own lunch laid out before him. Fuji didn't mind sharing others lunches, but he minded sharing his with others.

"Ashitaba- what on earth are you doing with my lunch?"

Eyes blinked slowly, and Ashitaba started in surprise. "Eh- EH? Sorry Fuji- I guess I was too distracted. You can have my lunch instead."

Fuji looked between the half-eaten bento he had brought, and Ashitaba's well-made home cooked bento that his mother had prepared for him- and went straight for Ashitaba's.

Mimisaka watched this with a slightly disgusted face and Kaburagi smiled brightly as she chatted up Hades-sensei.

It was such a normal lunch period- and one that Ashitaba realized he'd definitely miss if anything happened…

With a determined shake of his head, he went back to attacking Fuji's lunch. It was quite probably Nothing. Absolutely Nothing.

He gulped down his food at the same time Hades asked a question. "Ashitaba-kun, I heard you called Niburu with a strange question? Have you seen another disease demon lately?"

The food in Ashitaba's mouth described a beautiful arc straight onto Mimisaka's head. Ashitaba clutched at his chest, trying to get his wildly beating heart to slow down as he stuttered out, "N-No of course not! Other then the one I called you about yesterday-"

As Ashitaba groped for a reasonable explanation that he could quite possibly use, he instantly thought of the business card that he had used to call Niburu. "I- I was just thinking about maybe one day helping out Niburu-san hunt disease demons down!"

Dead silence fell, as more then one looked at him totally aghast. "I-I was just going to do it in a strictly informational way of course! B-Besides, I was wondering about byouma since we see them so often-"

The horrified looks fell away into smiling faces.

Hades smiled gently as he gestured at himself. "If you see any byouma, please leave them to me. Don't worry about what Niburu or Keiichi say."

Ashitaba smiled back, a hidden sadness in his eyes.

Fuji swallowed the bite of rice, and used his chopsticks to poke Ashitaba's cheeks. "Now what are you drifting off for?"

The middle-schooler flinched at the poke, turning to Fuji. "that disease demon was sprouting some crazy things about having eaten a humans soul! What if I get one that does that!"

"Relax Ashitaba." Mimisaka said, almost in disgust as he propped his head on his fist. "You're the most well balanced out of all of us. You haven't caught one yet."

_Because I may be one._

* * *

Ashitaba pulled his school bag up on his shoulder, checking his cellphone.

While Motoyoshi was the best at looking stuff up, and Hanamaki was intellectually smart, he had a nose for disease demons. A really, really good nose. As in he attracted trouble like flies.

Technically all he had to do was encourage Yasuda, and it was practically guaranteed that a disease demon would come to him.

But he wasn't going to endanger a friend like that. Because he _wasn't_ a disease demon.

No way, no how.

…

He was such a looser.

The black-haired youth quietly crept around the corner of the building he had marked down as a place where disease demons seemed to gather naturally- distantly he could hear the insane laughter that seemed to be the hallmark of a disease demon.

Ashitaba wondered what kind of insane laugh he would have- before shaking his head. He wouldn't have an insane laugh, because he wasn't a disease demon. That was that.

Of course, if he really believed that, then why was he _here_?

The laughter stopped as he rounded the corner. The disease demon, looking like a resplendent peacock, head slowly swiveled towards him. The too large eyes, that looked as if they'd been ripped out of a shojo manga, blinked at him.

Then, it said the dreaded words- "Are you a disease demon that swallowed a human soul?"

With that simple question, Ashitaba's held onto façade crumbled like dust.

* * *

Fuji stared up at the building, an eyebrow hiking ever higher. Next to him Kaburagi and Mimisaka stared at the building in disbelief.

…Hadn't Sensei defeated several disease demons in this building?

"Hey, guys- don't you think we're being extremely nosey?"

Fuji turned to Kaburagi, pointing out, "Weren't you the one that dragged Ashitaba out to spy on Hades-Sensei?"

"Wha-Wha-WHAT? H-H-HOW DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT?" The flushed girls' face was cherry red, as she frantically waved her hands in the air.

Fuji held up his cellphone. "I asked around."

"Anyways-" Mimisaka interrupted, "Why _are_ we here?"

"Because Ashitaba's been acting weird lately, and I don't want to give up any more of my lunches. Thereby if we solve his problems, we can return back to normal after all the crazy things that have been happening lately. We'll be graduating soon, won't we? After that we'll only have one more year left in middle school."

That was true.

Mimisaka sighed, as he turned back to the building. "That's true enough-"

"Hello everyone."

Three screams of surprised terror split the air, as they turned.

The Death God of the Infirmary stood there, looking slightly shocked at the surprised screams and cries. "I-Is something the matter?"

"H-Hades Sensei! What are you doing here?"

"Well, disease demons gather here naturally, so I come here in order to clear them out."

"O-Oh." The three kids looked at each other, before their eyes widened. "Wait- Ashitaba-kun! He went in there alone!"

The kids and the adult stared at each other in horrified shock, before Hades dashed into the building.

An insane laugh cascaded around them, as a voice, inhuman in its intensity spoke, and "So, I see that some little humans have intruded in my hunting grounds- have you come here to stop me?"

"Show yourself! Now!" Hades bark into the air did nothing but to draw out more laughter.

Kaburagi's head tilted back to stare directly into the darkness, shouting, "Where's Ashitaba-kun?"

"Ashitaba? Sorry little humans, there's no one left here but us byouma."

The girls face went pale, as Hades hand clenched. "I'll take my leave now. You can search for your puny human all you want, but I can guarantee that he isn't here."

The byouma's presence faded. Hades clenched hand began to tremble from the intensity.

What was going on? Ashitaba acting so oddly, then coming to a building where disease demons gathered- and was the byouma actually stating that Ashitaba was a byouma…

"H-Hades-sensei?" The small terrified voice caught his attention, and everyone turned at the same time, staring out into the darkness.

Ashitaba stood there, eyes wide and fear lurking within them. One hand was lightly wrapped around his waist, and he was bent forward- as if something had attacked to him. "H-How- Why- I thought-"

"A-Ashitaba!" The two kids and one adult rushed towards him, as he took a shaky step forward, and slowly collapsed.

"Are you alright!"

Silence was the only answer.


End file.
